It looks like a case of school rivalry gone too far.
That’s what Tooele County School District officials said about the vandalism to Tooele High School’s football field that occurred sometime before Friday morning.
Students and faculty arriving at THS Friday morning found a large blue “S” painted on the football field and the goals posts on the end of the field were painted blue.
They also found “SHS” painted in blue at the top of the stairs leading to the football field and blue paint going down the stairs.
The spirit rock at the top of the ramp that leads to the football field — which is normally painted white with black lettering giving the years of Tooele High School’s state football championship — was covered in blue paint, according to Sgt. Jeremy Hansen with the Tooele City Police Department.
Tooele and Stansbury High schools’ football teams will meet on the THS field for an inter-county rivalry game Friday night. Stansbury High’s colors are blue, black and silver.
“Last night the Tooele High School football field was vandalized with blue paint in what was likely a rivalry prank,” said Tooele County School District in a statement released Friday morning by Karen Crawford, communications specialist.
“Tooele High School and Stansbury High School will compete tonight in a regular season football game. We encourage healthy competition, but vandalism will not be tolerated. Police are currently investigating the crime,” the statement said.
The vandalism will not be noticeable by the time the football game with SHS starts, according to Tooele High School Principal Jeff Hamm.
“We’ve had a tremendous response from the district’s maintenance staff and parent volunteers,” Hamm said.
By noon on Friday, district staff pressure washed the spirit rock back to its usual condition, the blue “S” on the football field was being covered with purple paint, the goal posts had been repainted yellow, and a group of parents were painting the steps purple.
“I got a text from my daughter about the vandalism,” said Carol Doerr, with paint brush in hand. “So I called the school and volunteered to come over and help.”
The vandalism did not interrupt classes at Tooele High, according to Hamm.
“We made an announcement in the morning about the vandalism and asked our students to not retaliate,” he said.
The school district will not have an estimate of the cost of the damage until the restoration is complete. Most of the expense will be in the cost of time for the staff that participated in the clean up, according to Crawford.
The Tooele City Police Department is investigating the vandalism. School Resource Officers are following up on leads, according to Hansen.
Depending on the dollar amount of damage as determined by the school district, charges for the vandalism might reach to a Class A misdemeanor or a 3rd degree felony, according Hansen.
Hansen asked that anyone with information about the vandalism to call the Tooele City Police Department at 435-882-8900 or after hours to call dispatch at 435-882-5600 and select option one.